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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, August 5, 2007
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Protect Your Computer
Tips & Tricks: Microsoft Word – Working with Non Adjacent Selections
This Week's Topic: Mouse Pointers
Question: More About the Microsoft Word Format Painter Button
Websites of Interest: Fruits and Vegetables; Digital Gallery - New York City Public Library; Car Buying Tips; History of Las Vegas
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Special Feature: Protect Your Computer
Keep your computer safe. Be sure to have an antivirus program on your computer and run updates on this regularly. Open your antivirus program and ensure that it automatically checks for updates whenever the computer connects to the Internet. Weekly, open the program and run a full system scan.
You can learn all about viruses at our website:
http://stsico.com/html/viruses.html
Spyware can infect your system and cause all kinds of problems from slowdowns to allowing hackers to get in and take over. You must have antispyware software on your computer and do periodic scans.
Without your knowledge or permission, spyware has the ability to send information about you to any computer in the world. With hundreds of thousands of copies of commercially available spy software in use worldwide, there is a good chance your computer may be bugged right now, or if it isn't, it could be at any time.
Spyware is software that transmits personally identifiable information from your computer without your knowledge. It is generally used to silently track your personal information and surfing behavior to create a marketing profile that will be sold to advertisement companies.
Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that most anti-virus programs do not yet adequately protect against. If you see unusual things happening on your computer, programs popping up that you didn't intentionally install, slowdowns, freezes, browser crashes, or things that have changed without your having changed them, you may have been infected with spyware.
Unfortunately, even if you do not see anything, you still may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is covertly entering computers without the owner’s knowledge or permission.
A less threatening sort or spyware is adware. Adware is similar to spyware, but does not usually transmit personally identifiable information. Instead, it collects information on Internet usage such as website visits and time spent on particular websites.
Another kind of spyware is tracking cookies. Cookies are used all over the internet in useful and less useful places. Advertisement companies often set cookies whenever your browser loads a banner from them. In that case, the company gets notice about every site you visit that contains their ads.
It is very important that you protect yourself and your computer from spyware. There are many free spyware protection programs that can be downloaded and used. These programs will search your computer for instances of spyware and remove any that are found. Good anti spyware programs will also immunize your computer from known spyware that could infect you in the future.
One such program is Spybot – Search and Destroy. This can be downloaded at download.com. It is a free program that is very easy to use and provides good instructions and documentation.
Download Spybot:
http://tinyurl.com/9s3oq
Another free program, and excellent spyware blocker, is Spyware Blaster, available at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/g1d9
Learn more about cookies at our website:
http://stsico.com/html/cookies.html
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Tips & Tricks: Microsoft Word – Working with Non Adjacent Selections
Question: Is it possible to copy two or more parts of a Word document that are not adjacent. For example, could I copy paragraphs 1 and 3 in one step?
Answer:
Yes, it is possible. To do so, highlight the first block of text to be copied. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard, and then highlight the next section of text. Give the copy command and continue with the steps as usual.
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Today's Topic: Mouse Pointers
Question: My eyes are not so good anymore and sometimes I have a difficult time locating the mouse pointer. Can I do anything to make it more outstanding and easier to see?
Answer:
Yes, you can. Windows XP offers a large choice of different mouse pointer schemes. Many of them are just for fun – dinosaurs, cartoons, etc., but there are some very useful ones, especially for people with visual impairments or who just have difficulty seeing the screen. You can make your pointers larger or change the color or outline.
Click Start and open Control Panel.
Click Appearance and Themes under Pick a Category. If you are using Classic View, click Mouse.
Click Mouse Pointers.
In the Mouse Properties window, click the Pointers tab. You will see options under Scheme — click on the drop-down arrow to look at the different ones available. When you click on a Scheme, you can see a preview of what the pointer will look like in the Customize area of the window.
Once you decide on a scheme that looks good for you, click the OK button.
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Question: More About the Microsoft Word Format Painter Button
I loved your tip on the format painter! I have a question though. Is it possible to use this to copy the formatting to multiple paragraphs without having to go back and recopy from the first paragraph each time?
Answer:
Yes, it is. Here is how:
Select the text that has the formatting you want to copy. Double click the Format Painter button. Now you can paste the formatting on as many blocks of text as you want.
Point to the text you want to apply the formatting to and drag across with the mouse. The text will change to the same formatting as the paragraph you copied from. Now, do the next block of text you want to apply the same formatting to. You can continue formatting blocks of text by highlight with the mouse. When you are done, click the Format Painter button again to turn it off.
Visit our Newsletter Archives to read last week’s article introducing the Microsoft Word Format Painter button.
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/072907.html
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Websites of Interest:
Fruits and Vegetables
It is a universally recognized fact that fruits and vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet. This website is a great resource for useful tips on how to select, prepare, cook and store fresh produce.
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/
Digital Gallery - New York City Public Library
No need anymore to take a trip into New York City. The digital gallery of the New York Public Library provides access to over half a million digitized images from its extensive collection.
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org
Car Buying Tips
This website is a useful guide for those who are about to buy a car.
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/
History of Las Vegas
This site is filled with historic images from the beginnings of Las Vegas, a timeline of its evolution, info on its legendary hotels and casinos, renovations, and much more.
http://www.earlyvegas.com/ |
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